Sony Hints at new PS4 Features in Online Survey

A PlayStation-focussed survey from Sony seems to hint at some future features that might end up appearing on the PlayStation 4. Many are options that fans have been asking for, so it’s nice to see they’re paying attention to reaction. There’s no reason to think these will pop up in the near future, or at all, but positive replies from those invited to the survey might mean certain things appear sooner than others.

Top priorities, at least according to those that share what they want in future firmware updates, seem to be on-screen notifications for when friends come online (and when they leave), and the ability to change your PlayStation username, something that’s long been asked for. The downside to the latter is that it’d like be a paid service, something that some will be disappointed by.

Other interesting parts of the survey hint that Sony might be working towards an online reputation system. This offers a quick chance to check the quality of the players you’re interacting with online, and the choice to rate them if for whatever reason you feel their play is unfair. An advanced matchmaking service would be nice as well, although by no means a must-have function until a killer multiplayer title comes along with a big enough community to support it.

The survey was sent out to specific individuals and can’t be accessed by the general public.